rice cookers have been available in NYC for years, (my sister had one more than 10 years ago-but then, he husband is japanese, and rice cooking figured heavily in her style).
nowdays, rice cookers are almost common, many latino's as well as the large mixed asian population use them.

i think part of the reason we have stoves and ranges and ovens, is often, small houses in europe didn't-- the rich had kitchens, and rotisseries, but poor folk often just had a small fireplace to cook at. bread wasn't homecooked, it was bought from a bakery, (in the 13th century or so!) and on saturday evening, people brought cassaroles to the baker's oven, put in bean cassaroles, and let them cook on retained heat till sunday (the christian 'sabbath' when cooking, like all work was prohibbited.) This certain occured in france--

i am less certain of how the english dealt with 'sunday' dinner. the english were famous for roast of beef and other meat for ages and ages.. perhaps the same rotisseries existed even in small fireplaces--so people had fireplaces and tools to use in them, but not a seperate metal portable stove- and one 'fireplace tool' was a cooker.. as the fireplace got smaller, the cookers became 'free standing.. and keep the name.

but in early america's there were no 'bakery's' readily available-- and even as town became settled and bakeries grew up, the population continued to move into unsettled areas. the european settles to americas had to devise new ways of cooking--partly because they didn't have towns and bakeries, and partly because they didn't have the same access to foods. Wheat grows very well in part of pennsylvania, and in Iowa, and other central and northern western states, but it didn't do well in New England or NY..or in most of the coastal atlantic states... so americans had to eat other grains, and make other sorts of bread besides 'wheat bread'--and they had to create 'portable' free standing equiptment to heat houses and to cook on. --ie stoves and ranges and ovens. the earlies ovens where 'dutch ovens' large pots with lids-- you put the pot in the fireplace, and covered the lid with hot coals to get 'even'/allover cooking.
They used the same sort of 'stoves' that had been used on ships-- insulated metal fireboxes-- that had flat surfaces for cooking on. they moved them off ships and into the first crude houses (fireplaces and flues require some skill to construct, ships 'stoves' were cheaper.)

with wheat flour so expensive, corn remained a staple food (even while wheat remained more desirable) remnants of the old style of cooking exist in 'NE dinners', ie, baked bean, and 'brown bread'-which is corn meal, and molasses and steamed, not baked. the beans where cooked in a bean pot that could go into the back of fireplace (or be left on top of a stove)and the bread didn't need an oven either.

corn, does not contain glutten, so it doesn't bake up into 'bread' as it is know in europe. there are all sorts of other corn (maize) 'breads'- and other corn products that are common in various part of regional US, but as wheat production came into full swing with the introduction of 'winter wheat'- a variety of wheat that was first cultivated in russia, and other northern european countries, and introduced to US in early 1900's. until then wheat flour was expensive, and corn based breads were more common.

as corn lost ground to wheat for bread making, corn producers thought of other ways to sell corn. (corn whiskey was common by late 1700's!) corn flakes, corn syrup, corn flour(starch), (which is used as a commercial dehydrator) and corn based snack foods where all were developed.

americans eat more corn than ever, but very little of it looks like corn. brown bread still remains common in NE, and even in NY a combo of corn and wheat flour bread (anadama bread) is common, and hominy remains a southern staple (starting as far north as philadelphia, with scrapple, (pork sausage mixed with hominy) ) all over US, corn bread (a quick bread--made with baking soda, not yeast) is common, as are corn muffins.

and americans still cook on 'portable stoves' and 'range'(a portable stove to be found on the range).


my other obsession